Lawn mower move grows your upper-body strength

Try the lawn mower, an exercise with stretch bands that can trim your physique.

Try the lawn mower, an exercise with stretch bands that can trim your physique.

Melinda Fulmer

Put that exercise tubing to work with the lawn mower, a version of the classic bent-over row.

Demonstrated here by Long Beach fitness instructor John Garey, who uses it in his "Core: Total Body Tone With Tubing" DVD, it's a great upper-body strength move to add to your routine.

What it does

The stationary lunge and pull works your latissimus dorsi and rear deltoid muscles, as well as a bit of your biceps. In the advanced version, the triceps also are engaged.

What to do

Place the tubing on the floor and step on it with your right foot, leaving just a little bit sticking out to the outside of the foot. Grasp the handle of the exercise tubing with your left hand and step back with your left leg into a deep lunge, keeping your knee in line with your ankle. Balance your weight on your right leg and brace yourself with your right hand on your right knee to help support your lower back.

With your upper body low but not hunched over, pull the handle back to your rib cage as you flex your elbow. Lower your arm back to start and repeat.

To make the move more challenging, give yourself a bit more slack in the tubing, and when you are at the top of the row, open your left arm out at a diagonal with your palm facing out to the side as you rotate from your center and look back to the far wall. Lower back to your starting position and repeat.